NBA: Kidd to coach Bucks

Jason Kidd had a seat in the coaching box and a jersey in the rafters.

He wanted more. And now his celebrated return to the Nets has turned into yet another ugly exit.

Kidd is set to become Milwaukee's coach after Brooklyn agreed to a deal Monday with the Bucks, who paved the way for Kidd's arrival by firing coach Larry Drew.

The Nets will receive a second-round draft pick in 2015 that was formerly their own, and another in 2019 belonging to either Milwaukee or Sacramento. They said a search for a new coach would begin immediately.

Kidd went 44-38 in his only season as Nets coach, then sought control of the basketball operations department and was denied. The Nets gave him permission to talk to other teams about a job.

It was a stunningly quick ending to Kidd's reunion with the franchise he twice led to the NBA Finals as a player. The Nets hired him last June as coach just weeks after he retired as a player and retired his No. 5 before a preseason game in October. Also, he bought a small portion of the team.

But things rarely ended cleanly for Kidd, a former Cal star, as a player, and that remains the case as a coach. He was traded from Dallas, his first pro team, when he feuded with teammates. He was shipped out of Phoenix after an arrest for a domestic dispute.

Drew went 15-67 in his only season in Milwaukee, but there had been no indication he wouldn't be back before the Kidd situation emerged.

Advertisement

Heat: After reports by Yahoo and ESPN, the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) confirmed that LeBron James is seeking a contract starting point over $20 million for next season. Fellow Heat free agents Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have agreed to return at much less.

James, Wade and Bosh all opted out of the remaining two seasons on their Heat contracts in the past week. The three had almost identical salaries the past four seasons. The Heat will have a salary hierarchy next season if all three return, as expected, led by James, followed by Bosh and then Wade.

Free agency opens: The market opened Monday night, with Carmelo Anthony visiting Chicago. Other big names available include Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Paul Pierce, Eric Bledsoe, Lance Stephenson and Kyle Lowry. Contracts can't be signed until July 10, after next season's salary cap has been set.

Warriors: The team did not extend a qualifying offer to guard Jordan Crawford, making him an unrestricted free agent. Crawford, 25, averaged 8.4 points and 1.4 assists in 42 games for the Warriors after being acquired from Boston in a three-team trade that sent guard Toney Douglas to Miami.

The Sun Sentinel reported that the Warriors will interview Lakers free-agent forward Gasol.

Clippers: The $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers will hinge on the technicalities of family trust law and whether Donald Sterling's estranged wife had the right to unilaterally negotiate a deal with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

The July 7 trial will look at the trust's terms alone and not focus on whether the 80-year-old Sterling is mentally incapacitated, L.A. Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas said.

Shelly Sterling struck a deal to sell the team to Ballmer in May after Donald Sterling's racist remarks to a girlfriend were publicized and the NBA moved to oust him as an owner.

Cavaliers: Owner Dan Gilbert tweeted that he had an agreement on a five-year contract extension with All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, the No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft.

Magic: Orlando waived point guard Jameer Nelson, its longest-tenured player, to save salary cap space. The move comes just weeks before the team would have owed him $8 million for the final year of a three-year contract.

Pistons: Detroit announced it won't pick up the team option on Chauncey Billups' contract for the 2014-15 season. Coach Stan Van Gundy said Billups, 37, "will always be a valued member of the Detroit Pistons' family."